Femoroacetabular Impingment

[MBasic]

I used the search function: (FAI; Femoroacetabular; hip impingment)

Couldn't find much in the SSCQ&A on femoroacetabular impingement.

From what I've read, it's a bone thing. Irregularities in or around the ball & socket joint of the hip.

Question: So any kind of muscle stretching, MFR type stuff, etc. isn't really going to help if one truly has FAI ?

Seems FAI is the new GNF (glutes not firing).

[Steve Hill]

There's plenty of threads on this in Rip's forum.

I don't think, if one truly has it, there is any amount of stretching, foam rolling, or voodoo flossing that will help.

NSAIDs and other pain relievers seem to.

[MBasic]

There's plenty of threads on this in Rip's forum.

ok, just searched Rips forum with "Femoroacetabular".

seven posts; most seem to be legit FAI cases (X-rays, and MRIs and such).

Rip and/or others seem to try to get the person to squat around the FAI; tying to alter stance and mechanics to get the boney matter not to impinge.

I don't think, if one truly has it, there is any amount of stretching, foam rolling, or voodoo flossing that will help.

this is sorta what I was getting at (confirmation?). Thanks.

The term FAI getting thrown around a lot these days.
At the gym, I doubt a third of all the Trainer's clients have this.
God didn't make that hip joint so well I guess. /s

[Tom Campitelli]

I've only had one or two trainees that I can remember whose hip joints were probably the culprit in preventing them from squatting normally. Even then, one of those peeps could get below parallel just fine. They just couldn't put their knees out as much as I would like to see. I may be wrong, but I think Rori Alter may have FAI. Her fix was to drive her knees out more than normal. I suspect you are correct, MBasic, that this is probably something that gets thrown around too readily.

[John Petrizzo]

I've only had one or two trainees that I can remember whose hip joints were probably the culprit in preventing them from squatting normally. Even then, one of those peeps could get below parallel just fine. They just couldn't put their knees out as much as I would like to see. I may be wrong, but I think Rori Alter may have FAI. Her fix was to drive her knees out more than normal. I suspect you are correct, MBasic, that this is probably something that gets thrown around too readily.

You guys are both correct. FAI has definitely been diagnosed much more frequently in recent years and the surgical procedure used to correct the condition is relatively new and the jury is still out on the long term results, but so far, the results seem very mixed. Most people who complain of impingement type symptoms in the hip joint can get by with some adjustments to their frequency and volume and some slight form modifications. As Tom alluded to, some people feel better with a more toes/knees forward stance and some (like Rori) get relief with a more exaggerated toe angle/knees out position. That really depends on the morphology of the hip joint, location of the bony abnormalities, whether or not there is a labral tear, etc. I have also had good success using front squats and HBBS with patients on light days just to avoid the greater degree of hip flexion that we see in the LBBS.

[Steve Hill]

I had posted similar thoughts to Tom / John in this thread: http://startingstrength.com/resource...orm-check.html